​Alison Krauss and Union Station (from the album Arcadia

​Alison Krauss and Union Station (from the album Arcadia

​Alison Krauss and Union Station (from the album Arcadia on Hokker, Inc/Down the Road Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
 
It has been over a decade since Alison Krauss and Union Station released Paper Airplanes in 2011. Throughout the fourteen years since the group came together in the studio, Alison has been planning, sharing that ‘over the years, you'll hear something, but it's not time for it. You say to yourself -- Oh, this is beautiful, I'm going to set it aside and wait -- I have a place behind my desk with songs that I collect, including CDs and cassettes of songs I've kept for 30, 40 years’. The tracks assembled, a catalyst was needed, and Alison found the spark, recalling ‘usually, I find something that's a first song -- here's the beginning -- and then things fall into place. That song was “Looks Like the End of the Road”. Jeremy Lister wrote it, and he’s one of my favorites. It just felt so alive, and as always, I could hear the guys already playing it’. The songs in place, Alison Krauss began to assemble the band, discovering that Dan Tyminski (guitar/vocals) would not be joining the group. The core members, Alison Krauss (fiddle/vocal), Jerry Douglas (dobro/lap steel/vocals), Ron Block (banjo/guitar/vocals), and Barry Bales (bass/vocals) voiced a unanimous decision when Russell Moore was suggested. The guitarist accepted and Union Station followed Alison Krauss into the studio for the recording of their recent release, Arcadia.
 
The song that began their audio journey for Arcadia, “Looks Like the End of the Road”, opens the album. The tune slowly unravels, Alison’s voice guiding the tale as the players slowly join in to support the story. The intricacy and ease which Union Station display is stunning. Signed by Rounder Records at fourteen years old, Alison Krauss has spent her career expanding on Bluegrass traditions while honoring the past work. For Arcadia, she feels the she and the band are in new territory for them, and she stated that ‘many people in Bluegrass music talk about being born in the wrong decade, and whenever I sing, the pictures I see in my head take place in a particular time. That's what happened with these tunes, maybe even more so than in the past’. Arcadia promises “Forever” fortified by gentle instrumental support as the playing slowly unravels underneath “The Wrong Way” while “Snow” falls on a toe-tapping beat and introduces “The Hangman” over sharp-angled notes. Alison Krauss and Union Station relate a historical disaster in the words of “Granite Mills” while the rhythms rumble as they sing the praises of “North Side Gal” while putting their hopes for a brighter day into “One Ray of Shine”, exiting Arcadia on the hushed picking of “There’s a Light Up Ahead”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
Listen and buy the music of Alison Krauss and Union Station from AMAZON
 
For more information and purchase options, please visit the Alison Krauss and Union Stationwebsite